What Bono Doesn't Say About Africa

I know Bono has become the darling of the evangelical church of late because of his efforts to help out in Africa, but I think he would do well to give the whole story from that part of the world. Personally speaking, I would be much more inclined to lend him my ear if he would be as vocal for the unborn babies being killed by the millions in America and around the world. Take a look at the stat to the left and ask how he and others so vocal about poverty and aids in Africa,can be so silent on the the issue of abortion. Not only has Bono been silent, Rick Warren invites Barak Obama (who supports partial birth abortion) to speak from his pulpit. Perhaps the abortion issue is just not a cool topic anymore in some evangelical circles. Have we bowed to the god of cool?

10 Ways to Grow a Church Without God

I thought this article was very interesting and insightful. I have been to a couple of Willow Creek Leadership Summits and this sounds like it's right out of their playbook.
I don't think Jesus ever said get people in the church any way you can. He said go and make disciples.

Global Cooling by 2020

This is a facinating article about how the sun is the most likely causing climate change and we are iin store for some really good skiing pretty soon. Hopefully I'll still be able to ski then.

Click here to see the article. If this is interesting to you, there are many articles in this one that you can click on for more info.

People Are Generally Good?

Jesus said, "no one is good, except God alone." - Matt. 10:18
Check out this story in case you have any doubts.

How About Some Global Warming Irony

Sorry but I just couldn't get past the irony of the story about Denver, Colorado and their global warming plan. The irony is that the day this was announced, Denver had its coldest June morning in over 50 years. Just last week there was a snow storm not far from Denver and another interesting stat is that 9 of the 12 warmest years for Denver occurred before 1955.

I am all for cleaner air but I wish some of these so called scientists and the media would quit trying to manipulate poeple with their fear tactics. I am not buying it and I believe there is a growing tide of scepticism no matter what the media and governments are telling us.

All that being said, I am for the reduction of oil consumption not only for environmental reasons but also for national security. How about we Americans start driving smaller cars that are more fuel efficient so that we can be less dependent on some of those nice middle eastern countries that would love to hold us hostage with their oil. It's only a matter of time before that happens. Keep your eyes on Iran. I think things could get very interesting this summer.


Here's an interesting article about Mt. Kilimanjaro and its shrinking ice cap. This has been an argument in support of man made global warming but now they're not so sure.

Scientific Consensus on Global Warming? I Don't Think So

A skeptic of global warming skeptics has done some research and found he may no longer be the camp of skeptics he once was. Sorry if that was a little confusing. One of the things we hear over and over again is that there is a scientific consensus that the cause of climate change is the fault of man. Those that disagree with that view are castigated as ignorant, uninformed or have been bought out by the oil companies. The author of this article was one who scoffed at the climate change skeptics but since doing some in depth research, isn't so sure anymore. Read the article and remember that even though some may contend something is a done deal, it is not necessarily so. There is always another side to the story.

Global Warming Anyone?

Every day we are hearing the global warming propaganda machine spewing out more and more fear mongering. In case I haven't been clear, I am a bit skeptical, not about climate change, but the reason behind it. I believe what we are seeing has happened many times before way before anyone ever hear of the evil SUV. I do however believe we as Christians should be responsible with God's creation and should do whatever possible to make and keep the earth clean. That being said, ultimately God is in control of the weather and my trust is in Him, not Al Gore or Greenpeace. I don't trust either one and I believe they have ulterior motives.

Perhaps what we are seeing with the weather, earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars is God trying to get our attention before time runs out. Is anyone listening? Check out this video.

Sign of the Times

I just found this story and can't believe this is allowed to happen. As I was reading this I was trying to remember a passage in the bible about how in the last days things that are good and righteous will be looked down on while sinful things will be exalted. Someone help me out with that. If I find it in the mean time, I'll do some editing here. Anyway, I tried to imagine the outcry if this story were the other way around.
Think about it.
God bless,
Marc

Gaia Anyone?

One of the things I like to do every time I stay in a hotel is check the nightstand drawer to see if the Gideons put a bible there. It is always encouraging to see that they are still at it and the hotels are actually still allowing them to do so.

Lately I've been thinking about how many people I hear saying things like, 'that's fine if you believe that, but don't shove it down my throat'. Most of us have heard that many times I'm sure, especially if you are a Christian. Another thought popping in my mind is how the environmentalists have had the floor big time lately shoving their views down everyones throats and instead of resistance, the government, the media, the education system ,film industry and now HOTELS are right there with them proclaiming what is none other than shodding science and to get to the heart of it, a new religion of Gaianism (earth worship). Yup, that's right, it's a religion and one the whole world is uniting around.

If you think I'm crazy, do a little research on the UN Earth Summits and take a look at the news every now and then and it's unavoidable. Almost everyone seems to think we are responsible for climate change around the world. There already talk of a global tax for crying out loud.

I could go on and on about this for hours but I'll spare you. Check out this article on the 'green' hotel in California and do a little research and see what you think. It's definitely looking like that New World Order we've all heard about is coming to fruition soon.

One other thing, many times when people are confronted with the gospel they come up with an excuse like, 'those Christians are all a bunch of hypocrites'. Any one else see a little irony here? Can any one say Al Gore?

Enough said,

Marc

Old Earth, Sin and Death

It's been a while since I've posted and to be honest I've been a bit weary of all the stuff going in and out of the church and sometimes, to be quite honest, I just don't know where to start. When this happens I need to just step away for a bit and get some perspective which is what I've done.

We've just started a new bible study at our church called 'Origins and Endings'. Basically it's a study on creation & evolution and end times. So far we've looked at theistic evolution, the gap theory, philosophical naturalism and creation in six literal days.

I happen to believe that the six day view is the only view that lines up from a biblical theological standpoint and as a result I hold firmly to that view. To hold to any of the other views compromises the nature of God, His word and the cross. Why is that? Because with the Gap theory and Theistic evolution you have death before sin where the bible clearly states that death came as a result of sin (Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. - Romans 5:12) To have death and suffering before sin makes God to be some kind of a monster and renders the rest of the bible nonsensical.

I am open however to someone explaining how an old earth view can be reconciled with scripture, I just haven't heard a plausible explanation so far.

I would love to hear someone explain how it lines up with God's word, so if you've come across this blog and you are a Christian that believes in an old earth, the floor is yours. Please don't throw any lazy comments like, 'God could have done whatever He wanted'. I've heard that I don't know how many times and it's lame. God does not contradict His word which is the real issue at stake here.

Anyway, God bless and I look forward to some feedback.

Marc

Jesus' Family Tomb?

Well, here we go again. Last year we had the the Da Vinci Code which was nothing more than a re-hashing of the 1982 book, 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' which was completely debunked back then.
All through history there have been people trying to discount the validity of the scriptures and the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The latest which I'm sure many of you have heard about is the so called discovery of the tomb of Jesus and his so-called son. Once again this is an old story that was debunked several years ago. Unfortunately, some will buy into it without doing any research and the damage will be done. This is another reminder that we always need to be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks the reason for the hope that lies within us. 1Peter 3:15
Here is a great refutation of this latest attack on Christianity by Paul L. Maier Ph.D.,Litt.D:

Dear Friends and Readers,

...Please, lose no sleep over the Talpiot “discoveries” for the following reasons, and here are the facts:.

1) Nothing is new here: scholars have known about the ossuaries ever since March of 1980. The general public learned when the BBC filmed a documentary on them in 1996. James Tabor’s book, The Jesus Dynasty, also made a big fuss over the Talpiot tombs more recently, and now James Cameron (The Titanic) and Simcha Jacobovici have climbed aboard the sensationalist bandwagon as well.

2) All the names – Yeshua, Joseph, Maria, Mariamene, Matia, Judah, and Jose -- are extremely frequent Jewish names for that time and place, and thus most scholars consider this merely coincidental, as they did from the start. One-quarter of Jewish women at that time, for example, were named Maria.

3) There is no reason whatever to equate “Mary Magdalene” with “Mariamene,”as Jacobovici claims.

4) So what if her DNA is different from that of “Yeshua” ? That particular :Mariamme” (as it is usually spelled today) could indeed have been the wife of that particular “Yeshua.”

5) What in the world is the “Jesus Family” doing, having a burial plot in Jerusalem, of all places, the very city that crucified Jesus? Galilee was their home. In Galilee they could have had such a family plot, not Judea. Besides all of which, church tradition – and Eusebius – are unanimous in reporting that Mary died in Ephesus, where the apostle John, faithful to his commission from Jesus on the cross, had accompanied Mary.

6) If this were Jesus’ family burial, what is Matthew doing there – if indeed “Ma-tia” is thus to be translated?

7) How come there is no tradition whatever – Christian, Jewish, or secular -- that any part of the Holy Family was buried at Jerusalem?

8) Please note the extreme bias of the director and narrator, Simcha Jacobovici. The man is an Indiana-Jones-wannabe, who oversensationalizes anything he touches. You may have caught him on his TV special regarding The Exodus, in which the man “explained” just everything that still needed proving or explaining in the Exodus account in the Old Testament! It finally became ludicrous, and now he’s doing it again. – As for James Cameron, how do you follow The Titanic? Well, with an even more “titanic” story. He should have known better.

There are more arguments, to be sure, but I want to get this off pronto.

With warm regards,
Paul L. Maier

8 Reasons Why I Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead - John Piper
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2007/2009_Eight_Reasons_Why_I_Believe_That_Jesus_Rose_from_the_Dead/

Pray for those that are easily decieved by this kind of nonsense.

God bless,

Marc

More on the Emerging Church

I just found an excellent article on the Emerging Church last night and there were several things in it that resonated with me. First of all the main issue is not style but substance. There are many different types of churches out there that conduct their services in their own style. For the most part I don't have issues with that. I may not want to go to church at some of them but I would still consider them my brothers and sisters in the Lord. The issue I have is about substance. In other words, what are the doctrines they hold to? Do they hold unwaveringly to the essentials of the Christian faith? That's the main issue I have with the Emerging church as they are for the most part defined by leaders such A Brian McLaren who do not hold to the essentials.

The ironic thing is that some people out there in support of the Emerging Church like to compare it to the Jesus movement in the 60's and 70's. In the sense of style I guess there are some similarities but that's where it ends. The largest movement that came out of the Jesus movement was Calvary Chapel. This was a movement led my Chuck Smith and his wife who reached out to the drug addict hippies of the day with the gospel. They didn't water down the gospel at all in doing this and many of these hippies are now pastors of thriving churches today. The main thing that Calvary Chapel is known for is bringing people back to the bible. The Emerging Church is more known for telling us that they don't know if the bible is God's word and if we can really know anything at all.
Take a look at the article as it really gives a good picture of what I truly believe is a very confusing and deceptive movement.

Here's the article:

http://www.str.org/site/DocServer/Essential_Concerns_Regarding_the_Emerging_Church.pdf?docID=1441

Willow Creek and their infatuation with Bono

Last September I was invited by our former church here in Scotland to help out the worship team for the Willow Creek International Leadership Summit that was held here in Stirling, Scotland. I had played the previous year and to be honest struggled a bit with much of the teaching but decided it would be good to go and see what it's all about this year. I had also heard rumblings that Bono would be there as well (actually it was a taped interview) which I thought was interesting since Bono has become the darling of the evangelical Christian scene over the past few years. I was curious as to what he would actually have to say so I thought hey, I've got a free (they charge 65 pounds for two days) ticket and opportunity to hear him myself. Well the main thing he was doing was communicating his aids initiative for Africa which by itself is a good thing as there are many suffering of this horrible disease. I do however have a couple of problems with his strategy and Bill Hybel's and Rick Warren for not calling him on the carpet on these issues.

First, I heard nothing from Bono about getting to the primary problem and cause of aids which is sin. If you ever hope to really eradicate a disease like aids, you've got to deal with the source and not just the surface problem. Bill Hybels never brought up this point which disappointed me greatly. It seems he has fallen prey to the politically correct movement and is compromising his church, many church leaders around the world and his own faith. Don't get me wrong, I know there are people that have aids who have not gotten it through sinful actions and they need help as well as those who did sin and as a result contracted aids. The problem is that the philosophy in helping them is to ignore the sin by throwing condoms at them and then helping them without ever pointing them to their real sickness we all have (we all have sinned and are in desperate need of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world). That's what Jesus always did. He didn't just heal people, He used it to point to their real sickness and need for eternal healing which can only be found through Jesus Christ (John 14:6, Acts 4:12).

This leads me to the next issue with Bono and especially with the leadership at Willow Creek. From looking at the evidence, Bono is not a Christian, he's a Universalist that believes all roads lead to God. . In this day and age when there are so many philosophies crossing the globe at the speed of light, the church need not add to the confusion by catering to big celebrities because they have a voice they think will be heard. The church doesn't need Bono to help the aids crisis, it needs the power of the Holy Spirit.

Another curious thing is that I am hearing nothing coming out of these mega-church superstar preachers about the abortion issue which is an even bigger crisis. I guess that's just not a popular issue to get into these days as it might scare people from showing up at church on Sunday. Sorry, but you couldn't have a bigger issue for the church today than defending the most innocent and defenseless humans on the planet. There are no other humans on the face of the earth that deserve life more than the unborn. I guess all I'm am saying is for Bill Hybels, Bono and the Rick Warrens of the world to be consistent and put some serious energy and resources into defending the unborn as well as those suffering with aids.

Unfortunately, not only do I hear silence from these camps on the abortion issue, Rick Warren actually invited Barak Obama to speak at his church last month at the their aids summit. Barak Obama is not only a supporter of abortion but of partial birth abortion where they actually partially deliver a full term baby except for the head and then puncture the skull and suck out it's brains. Click on the link above for more information on this barbaric procedure. I'm sorry but how can this be happening in the so-called greatest nation in the history of the earth and how can Rick Warren invite this supporter of Partial Birth Abortion speak from his pulpit. What is this?

Christians need to wake up and stop being so insecure in their faith to the point of cozying up to false teachers and prophets and phony Christians because they somehow think it makes them cool and somehow validates their faith.

I heard of some Chinese Christians who were saying that the best thing for the American church might be for real persecution to enter it's shores. They might just be right and as one one living in Europe, that's the case here as well.

Pray for a true revival because that is our only hope.

God bless,

Marc

You Aint Seen Nothing Yet

Excellent article here about Brian McLaren and the Emerging Church. All I can say is it is really sad that there is such a lack of discernment in the church today that some people not only consider McLaren a Christian, but a hero of the faith.

The Labyrinth Journey

I just returned from a day in Edinburgh meeting up with a good friend who will be coming to speak at our church in March about apologetics and aberrent spiritual movements. It's quite interesting that in checking my e-mail I received an e-mail from our former church (which we still have ties to) announcing a Labyrinth they are having tomorrow.

I have been paying attention to many of the trends happening in different spiritual circles around the world and the Labyrinth is one of the hottest trends in the New Age movement and amazingly in the church as well.

I came accross this article about Labyrinths and passed it on to those that may be considering attending tomorrow. Give it a read it's pretty eye opening and disturbing to say the least to think that so much of the church has so little discernment that they would embrace something like this.

Give it a read. http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/new-age/NA1005W4.htm

Marc